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Duke & Duchess
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DUKE & DUCHESS

A great picture of Duke
This is a great picture of Duke.

The stories of Duke and Duchess are so intertwined that it is really best that they be told in one story. They were littermates born in 1978. Their mother and father (Brownie and Charlie, an Irish Setter) were the same as Rocky’s, so Rocky, Duke and Duchess were full brothers and sister and they all had a very setter look to them.

At the point that Duchess and Duke came along, I had resisted becoming personally responsible for any dog. King and Rocky, while they lived at my house, belonged to my friend, Danny. As puppies, Duke and Duchess came over to my house and as time went on, I became more and more attached to them. Both were given to other people by my neighbors that owned Brownie.

Duke on his birthday
Duke on his last birthday in 1993. His dad was Santa!

Both, however, seemed to end up at my house. Duchess was given to a family that lived many blocks away. In order for her to get back to my house she had to cross Linwood Boulevard and 31st Street, both extremely busy streets. When I came home several days in a row and she was sitting on my front porch, I decided that she really wanted to be with me and I took her in. Duke, likewise, spent more time at my house than the house where he belonged and I really felt he was not being cared for.

I liked the idea that I would have two dogs that looked the same and that looked the same as Danny’s dog, Rocky. So, they became mine and the other people never complained that I had taken the dogs from them.

The whole dog story that unfolds here would not have happened had it not been for Duchess. While King started it off, my personal involvement might not have happened, if it had not been for Duchess. Since King and Rocky were really Danny’s dogs, Duchess was the first dog for which I accepted responsibility.

Sadly, Duchess was killed by a car in an improbable accident in 1983. You will note that I have no pictures of her on this page. At the time of Duchess' death, I was not taking many pictures and the pictures I do have seem to have both Duke and Duchess in them. They had different collars on them, but at some point I switched the collars. Since they both looked alike I cannot distinguish the two and even the collars do not help because I do not remember when I switched the collars. I hope to put together a gallery for them and try to identify at least one that is Duchess.

There is a whole lot more to this story!!!!!